Meta has announced three agreements to power its data centers with nuclear energy. The deals involve one startup, one smaller energy company, and one larger firm that already operates multiple nuclear reactors in the United States.
The startup partners are Oklo and TerraPower, both of which are developing small modular reactors. Each has signed agreements to build multiple reactors for Meta. The third partner, Vistra, will sell capacity from its existing nuclear power plants to the tech giant.
Nuclear power has become a favored energy source for technology companies as their artificial intelligence ambitions expand, due to its ability to provide stable, around-the-clock electricity. Both startups and existing reactor operators have benefited from the race to power data centers, though in different ways.
Existing reactors are typically the cheapest form of baseload power, but their limited availability has pushed Meta and its peers toward small modular reactor startups. Companies like Oklo and TerraPower bet that by manufacturing a large number of smaller reactors, they can drive down costs through mass production. This is a plausible idea, though one that remains unproven. Meta’s deals could provide these startups with the opportunity to test that hypothesis.
These agreements result from a request for proposals Meta issued in December 2024. The company sought partners capable of adding between one and four gigawatts of generating capacity by the early 2030s. Much of this new power will flow through the PJM Interconnection, a grid covering thirteen Mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states that has become saturated with data centers.
The twenty-year agreement with Vistra will have the most immediate impact on Meta’s energy needs. The company will purchase a total of 2.1 gigawatts from two existing nuclear plants in Ohio: Perry and Davis-Besse. As part of the deal, Vistra will also add capacity to those plants and to its Beaver Valley plant in Pennsylvania. These upgrades will generate an additional 433 megawatts and are scheduled to come online in the early 2030s.
Meta is also buying 1.2 gigawatts from the startup Oklo. Under this deal, Oklo aims to start supplying power to the grid as early as 2030. The small modular reactor company went public via a special purpose acquisition company in 2023. While Oklo has secured a large deal with data center operator Switch, it has faced challenges getting its reactor design approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
If Oklo meets its timeline, the new reactors would be built in Pike County, Ohio. The startup’s Aurora Powerhouse reactors each produce 75 megawatts of electricity, requiring more than a dozen units to fulfill Meta’s order.
TerraPower, a startup co-founded by Bill Gates, aims to start sending electricity to Meta as early as 2032. It has designed a reactor that uses molten sodium to transfer energy. When demand is low, the superheated salt can be stored in an insulated tank until more power is needed. The reactor can generate 345 megawatts, while the storage system can provide an additional 100 to 500 megawatts for over five hours.
TerraPower has navigated the regulatory process more smoothly and is working with GE Hitachi to build its first power plant in Wyoming. Its first two reactors for Meta would provide 690 megawatts, and Meta holds rights to buy another six units for a total of 2.8 gigawatts of nuclear capacity and 1.2 gigawatts of storage.
Meta did not disclose the financial terms of the deals. The power purchases from Vistra are certain to be the cheapest, as electricity from operating nuclear reactors is among the least expensive on the grid. Costs for small modular reactors are still to be determined. Several startups have aggressive targets: TerraPower estimates it can bring costs down to 50 to 60 dollars per megawatt-hour, while Oklo is aiming for 80 to 130 dollars per megawatt-hour. These figures are for later power plants, with the first examples likely to cost more.